Frequently Asked Questions

A list of frequently asked questions to our support team are provide below. Should you have a question, or suggestion, that is not covered in this section, please submit it via the Contact page.

How Do I Download the Latest Version of BrM?

Agencies need to request the files from the contractor in order to access the AASHTOWare Bridge Management software. The installation can be provided in two ways:

Access to a secure FTP site (default option)

Receive a DVD copy in the mail

Downloading the installation from a secure FTP site is generally the most efficient means of software delivery.

64-Bit Software Version

Version 5.2.1 Service Pack 2 of the AASHTOWare Bridge Management software is currently in production and officially supports 64-Bit architectures. The software still contains some DLLs that have never been migrated from the 4.X architecture. These C++ based DLLs have been tested to ensure that they work adequately with 64-Bit systems. These DLLs will be addressed in future releases.

A 32-Bit version of BrM 5.2.1 SP2 is also available should your environment not support 64-Bit applications.

Workstation vs. Enterprise – The AASHTOWare Bridge Management software (5.X versions only) allows for two different installation options, workstation or enterprise. Both versions contain the exact same functionality, and anything done in one version can be completed in the other. The difference lies in how they are installed. The Enterprise version is your “traditional” ASP.NET application which requires IIS to be present and users to browse to it from Internet Explorer, like they would with any other ASP.NET application. The Workstation version is installed locally on your machine and hosted inside the Cassini Web Server. This does not require IIS to be present. The Workstation version would be typically used if someone was installing the software on a laptop they were planning to take into the field.

NBE/CoRE Elements

AASHTOWare Bridge Management software 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 are designed to be used to enter and edit the National Bridge Elements and their associated Bridge Management Elements, Protective Systems, and Defect Flags. A number of features have been added to allow for the easy viewing of past CoRE element data. However, the 5.1.2 database has been upgraded to support the new NBE structure and rules. Due to this CoRE elements and their associated data are read-only. They cannot be edited in 5.1.2. These elements should be finalized before the import. The only edit option to them after import is via a database interface.

How do I get all of my old data into the new NBE format?

AASHTOWare Bridge Management software 5.1.2 or 5.1.3 does not auto-migrate old elements. The Element Migrator tool, sponsored by AASHTO T-18, was developed for this purpose. This tool is now available under our downloads section.

How-To Add a Defect to a Protective System

Select the Protective System that is defected and select Add Defect. From here, an Add Element Detail window will open and you will be able to select the Defect from the Element ID field. Once you’ve selected the proper defect, the Parent Element field will appear above the selected defect. Please make note of which element is listed here as it may not default to the Protective System. If it does not default to the Protective System, please select it from the dropdown box.

Demonstration Website

A demonstration website is available to enable agencies to view and test the latest software. Please contact us via the Contact page if interested.

Logging off vs. Closing Browser Window

Closing the browser window does not behave in the same manner as clicking the “Log off” button from within the software. Clicking the “Log off” button in the software closes your current session. Exiting the software in this manner frees up resources on the server that have been allocated to your session. By comparison, clicking the browser close (“X”) button abandons your session and does not free up the server resources that have been allocated to your session. Eventually, your session will time out (default is 45 minutes) and the server resources will again be available to other users.

It is strongly suggested that users exit the application by clicking the “Log off” button in the upper right hand corner of the software. This is especially important in agencies with multiple concurrent users.

Keyboard Enter button vs software form buttons

It has been reported that on certain pages from within the software, pressing the “Enter” button on your keyboard does not behave in the same manner as clicking the submission buttons from within the software (ex. “Save”, “Save & Close”, or “Create” buttons). It is strongly suggested that the users click the submission buttons from within the software. This functionality will be addressed in a future release.

Opening PDF Documents in Internet Explorer

When running the Workstation version of the software, the PDF settings in your browser may need to be modified to ensure that PDF documents are not displayed in the browser. Clicking on the Element Inspection Manual PDF icon may prevent the user from being able to return to the software once the PDF document opens. In Internet Explorer 8 or later, click Tools > Manage Add-Ons and select Toolbars and Extensions. In the Show menu, select All Add-ons. In the list of add-ons, select Adobe PDF Reader. Click the Disable button.

Crystal Reports 2013

Starting with the BrM 5.2.1 SP2 release, all licensees are entitled to one (1) Crystal Reports 2013 developer license. If you are in need of a key, please contact us directly to acquire your agency specific license key. BrM 5.2.1 SP2 requires the Crystal Reports 2013 runtime be installed on machine’s running reports created in Crystal Reports 2013. This runtime can be downloaded here.

Within the migration scripts there are a few customizable options that agencies need to be aware of before running the migration script. An overview of what these options are and what they do are below.

Starting with the release of BrM 5.2.1, a new set of NBE elements were introduced that are incompatible with previous versions elements. To handle these new elements, a decision was made to archive the PON_ELEM_DEFS and PON_ELEM_INSP tables and create new versions of both tables containing the updated NBE elements if the older elements were found in the database. To address the possibly of agencies having already manually added the new elements or not wanting the script to archive the tables the above option was added to the scripts.

Default Action:

DEFAULT – When set to this option the script look into PON_ELEM_DEFS and if it determines that the elements are not the latest NBE version it will archive the PON_ELEM_DEFS and PON_ELEM_INSP tables and create new versions of each. PON_ELEM_DEFS will be populated with the new NBE element definitions. The PON_ELEM_INSP data will not be migrated over.

Optional Actions:

ALWAYS – This option will always archive the PON_ELEM_DEFS and PON_ELEM_INSP tables regardless of if they contain the new NBE elements or not.

NEVER – Using this option means that the scripts will not archive the PON_ELEM_DEFS and PON_ELEM_INSP tables even if they do contain the older element data.

Starting with the release of BrM 5.2.2, all data stored in the BrM database will be stored in English units. As a result of the change, the 5.2.2 script will convert all existing data in the database from Metris to English units. The above option will determine if only the default tables are convert or if all tables(agency defined tables) will also be converted from Metric to English.

Default Action:

ON_(ONLY_COLUMNS_IN_PON_DICT) – When set to this option the script will only convert columns in the standard BrM tables.

Optional Actions:

ON_(ALL_COLUMNS_IN_DATADICT) – This option will set the script to convert all the columns listed in the DATADICT table from Metric to English.

OFF – This option will not convert any columns from Metric to English.